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Oh god, this thread is tits. I work for a governmental body and have several co-workers who make strange decisions. Subject A: A and his Wife had jobs that brought around 160K a year in a different area with a moderatly low cost of living. Wife got tired of the biz and wanted out. So she quit her 80K job and became an employee of a service company that pays around 27K. A part of quiting was leaving the area to their current location. So he ended up working for the government which brought him down 75K, not too terrible. Their current combined income is more than enough to live comfortably. In fact it's right around what my wife and I make, which has allowed us to buy home in a country club, buy two new cars, contribute to our respective 401K's, and travel leisurely while still being able to drop 1500-2000 into our savings account every month. Now the difference is A constantly buys wants instead of needs. He is seemingly always depressed with his home situation so he fills the void with flavor of the month activities. Since I started working with him he's bought 2 motorcycles, one for him one for her, to which she stopped riding within a year. He's bought two kayaks, same story. Offroad equipment for his onroad all the time Jeep. Every new apple product that comes out, various cameras, phone cases. And every piece of "SPEC OPS" rated gear for outdoor activities he can find. I swear he has like 5 backpacks that the "SEALs" use. Things went crazy when the Government furloughs came around. For 2 months he ran around hair on fire. "What am I going to do? I'm so hosed I don't make enough." So he did what you would expect him to do. Buy poo poo to feel better, he bought a decent Diamondback mountain bike from a co-worker for 1000. Which was cool, but not good enough. During the middle of the furlough poo poo he went out on a splurge and bought a 3000 dollar Trek to ride around the suburbs. It was justified though because that was a "low priced" bike and he was selling one of the motorcycles to pay for it. gently caress saving the money just offset the cost. When he sold the motorcycle it pretty much zeroed out the loss from the bike. So he felt ok with the furlough. Then his jeep was "not riding right. Better get new shocks." it was fine I've rode in it several times and know when it's time to get new shocks and struts. So instead of taking it to a shop, he takes it to the dealer. Who low and behold "MOPAR brand? Well for your Jeep (trail rated cherokee) you better get the best custom ordered KYB's all around for an inflated cost of 1000 over OEM." "Yes sir charge it up. You never know when your going to need jump off the asphalt and book it through the Australian outback." It rides the same as before. Placebo is a hell of a drug.  Now that the high has worn off he has started  about Furloughs again. A is a great guy, and I try to subtly nudge him about his expenditures but I guess it keeps him occupied and somewhat content. Subject B: Not to be confused with A. B is a vet and GS employee on the verge of being layed off while currently being furloughed. A's wife is only employeed part-time and they have a teenage son. A is a motorcycle nut and currently has two motorcycles, three dirt bikes, a mini bike, as well as an '88 F-150, '07 F-150, and an '02 Explorer. For two drivers and 1 rider... When the poo poo started to hit the fan he made the decision to start off loading stuff. Good, that's smart, that should help create a buffer. He even got rid of cable and netflix. 2 months later, he hasn't sold anything and doesn't appear to be interested in doing so anytime soon. Then a couple weeks ago he got a notice that his postition is up for review for termination. The gov is just going to dissolve his position all together. So they said go home get your resume ready to defend your positition. What does he do? Two week vacation to the beach!  I too live in fear of losing my job almost daily. But instead of doing this poo poo I constantly run contingency plans in my head. I'm fully ready, so ready in fact I've researched the numbers I need to call in order to. Cancel cable, phone, and drop internet to 5mbps. Kill my current phone to a dumb phone, glad I kept those old phones. Carpool with my wife, keep a list of things I have that I can sell, and who to call to try and get an inside track on a new position. Subject C: C wanted to buy a new truck. Cool, his finances are pretty straight he's living comfortably and doing alright. So he got himself a purty new truck.  When he brought it in I asked him "So how did you finance it? July usually has 0%, it's a great month to buy a new car." He looked at me puzzled and said he financed it through his bank. He then asked me "What do you mean financing at 0%, you can do that?" He financed it for 5%. He thought that financing through the dealer was just a big scam and that is why they have the incentives, to lure you in (I never got an explination as to why exactly it's a scam). I've never bought a car that wasn't 0%, gently caress the man.  I just can't believe you would buy a car without any research or even just looking at the dealers ads. I bet the salesmen were high fiving each other after he walked out. Subject D: Another case of not doing your homework. D is a great guy and is signifigantly older than me. So when it comes to computers he has a different mindset. What is annoying is that having me as a coworker is like a having a multitool in your back pocket that he just decides to throw away. D was having computer problems so he asked me what could cause his desktop to be so slow. I asked him for specs and so forth and he said he would get them, I showed him how to get me a copy of his dxdiag and everything. Couple of days pass and he tells me his processor is outdated and he is lacking ram (6 gigs on a 32bit system). I asked him how he figured that out. He told me Best Buy  . So I explained to him about 32bit and RAM cap and that your processor is your processor and it doesn't really go bad unless your overclocking the poo poo out of it. I basically told him of all the problems you're describing the main culprit is probably a failing HDD. Back your poo poo up and bring it in and I'll gently caress around on it. He said don't worry about that I'm going to get a new one either way. I said ok let me know what you want to do with it and I'll price out a couple options and for no fee I'll put it together for you.A week passes... He called Dell and bought one direct... For 3000 dollars... Then I showed him my quote for 1250.  All of these guys rag on me for being so "rich" when I buy poo poo they can't afford. Turns out I make the same as A, B, C, and D I just don't waste my money and I try to plan as much as I can. It's times like this I'm kinda glad my family and my wifes teetered on the brink of poverty growing up. Our parents did great jobs of raising me, my brother, and my wife to be super concious of expeditures. That being said, I am retarded when it comes to utilities. I just ran my irrigation system for 3 months to help the grass grew heartier. My $100 dollar water bill is now $600
DEMAG fucked around with this message at 19:31 on Jul 5, 2013 |
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Jul 5, 2013 16:50
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Uranium 235 posted:Okay, so in these cases the dealership is giving the loan, and not an outside financial service? I once bought a car with a big down payment, but financed the rest through Toyota Financial Services. I was trying to think about it as though TFS were giving someone a 0% rate, which wouldn't make any sense. If it's the dealership, then I guess it does.
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Jul 5, 2013 19:20
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Silly Hippie posted:True story: someone I know spent hundreds of dollars on personalized M&Ms for her wedding. In an event that was already hilariously over the top (a $2000 groom's cake; not even the drat wedding cake!), that struck me as some particularly poor decision making. I remember at the end of the night they were pushing bags of the things on everyone while they left. Just looked it up and 10 lbs of the little bastards cost $250. Or for the low low price of $405.99 you can get 144 M&M filled business cards In all fairness, that was $205 well spent for my wedding. Those things went like hotcakes. I didn't even have any to keep for myself. We gave them away as favors in little boxes from walmart that we put ribbon on using glue dots. Our table decorations were all handmade by my wife and I and we splurged on the favors.
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Jul 11, 2013 13:16
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Old Fart posted:(Side note on that: in the divorce she forced us to liquidate our $8k in AAPL stock, which was bought at 18 and sold at 16, long before it split multiple times. Motherfucker.)  Looking at this mornings stock price I wouldn't even now how to cope with that.
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Aug 22, 2013 13:49
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Sudden Infant Def Syndrome posted:Buying an ex-rental is a terrible idea. That in itself is a bad with money story. My '01 Grand Am I bought used as a rental at 36,000. Drove it 274,000. At that point the only major work done to the car was, new fuel pump and filter, 2 brake master cylinders, drivers window motor, and an AC compressor. All the work done by me. I got rid of it when a small oil leak developed, probably from a bad gasket. But it was old and I didn't feel like putting in the time to fix it. If you know about cars, rentals can be a real steal.
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Aug 23, 2013 14:28
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Volmarias posted:Which is odd, because when I did rider ed, the course provided low powered dirt bikes for everyone to train on. Having someone bring their own motorcycle to a class to teach them how to ride a motorcycle seems like backwards thinking. The class offered by the Army MWR office has you bring your own bike.
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Dec 19, 2013 14:01
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Switchback posted:People who sign up for multi-level marketing schemes are definitely bad with money! Penn & Teller do a good show about it. Well Hey that is delightfully 
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Dec 27, 2013 16:10
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Mr.Radar posted:More reddit, this time from the comments on a story in the economics subreddit about how many middle class families have no cash savings even though they have other assets: quote:quote: Boy do I feel dumb for have 25K in my savings for any emergencies and or home improvements.
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Mar 24, 2014 17:49
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HonorableTB posted:And I thought my $308/month car payment was as bad as it could get I thought my payments on two cars 274/350 was bad. Then I remembered I got both at 0% APR. lostleaf posted:If you're financing at 0%, you're almost definitely financing directly from the manufacturer. The dealer isn't losing any money from this. I financed both through Ford Motor Credit. DEMAG fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 13:56
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EugeneJ posted:Owning New - pay for all of its MSRP, full responsibility for repairs, it should last 100,000 miles before making GBS threads the bed It's 2014 dude, cars are broken in at 100,000. Car milage in general is a stupid wear signifier. Age is the deciding factor. I drive almost all highways and my Fusion turned 2 last month. I just hit 70,000 this week. Not a single issue, in fact it still looks like it's garage kept with 15,000. With basic car repair knowledge you can and should keep a car on the road no matter the milage for at least 10 years. I've had a '94 corolla which I got rid of after 15 years with 278,000, sold and continued to run until it was totaled in an accident. 2000 Pontiac Sunfire which lived to 10 years at 286,000, sold and continued to run until owner didn't want to fix leaky radiator. 2001 Pontiac Grand-Am which lived 11 years at 312,000, sold to carmax, scrapped. and currently have a 2001 Silverado 1500 at 356,000 2010 Fusion at 77,000 2012 Fusion at 70,000 I average 33,000 a year and plan to keep this car for 10 years and 350,000.
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Aug 11, 2014 15:53
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SpelledBackwards posted:
You forgot "Your job is your credit!"
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Aug 12, 2014 16:35
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$0 down! Bad credit, no credit? No problem, everyone qualifies!
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Ebola Roulette posted:http://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/2dcvxq/copaying_a_mortgage_that_doesnt_have_my_name_can/ I need to find an imbecile like this to pay for half of my mortgage payment. 
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Aug 13, 2014 13:55
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CitizenKain posted:A coworker makes all of her financial decisions based on Nascar sponsorship of a single driver. As a huge NASCAR fan and commentator that is loving hilarious! Which driver? If I had to guess I'm going to go with Jeff Gordon. DuPont didn't work out better dump it all in 3M! DEMAG fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Aug 15, 2014 |
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Aug 15, 2014 18:45
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CitizenKain posted:Dale Jr. DALE YEAH! Well get ready to be pestered about joining Nationwide insurace next season since National Guard dumped him. They care about their customers because they don't have shareholders. 
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Aug 17, 2014 13:38
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nickutz posted:I like smaller pickups like the Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado. Although I won't get one because I have no use for a pickup. I don't haul much. But living in a rural area it's enough of an annoyance to justify one. That's why I got a free Silverado 1500 from my inlaws business when they bought new work trucks. Can't beat that price. I doubt I will ever buy one new or even used one in the future when this one dies.
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Aug 20, 2014 14:22
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Nail Rat posted:He's also convinced there are mutual funds that continually outperform the market. I hope he has it all in PTRAX!
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Aug 26, 2014 15:13
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YAY! Story time. It's been a while. I'm a contractor and as with contract work speedbumps happen often. Last week we found out we are going to have to split 51% of our workforce to another company. A deal was cut that would keep us from open compete, so I hear. Those who will have to go (up in the air at this point) will have their vacation time paid out to them, including any time held over the max amount of 240 hours. A nice gesture that will give most of us a very hefty September (At least 2 paychecks worth for me.) When you start at the new company it obviously means you will have to reaccrue leave. Not really that big of a deal. Especially since the current company was able to negotiate keeping everyone on board and at their current pay rate. One employee thought this was a travesty. How outrageous they are taking away our leave. Keep in mind this guy goes no where. He takes maybe 5 days off a year. He told our Vice President vehemently how terrible this was and that since "your taking my leave, I'm gonna take it all off before you try and pay me out." He is seriously using up a month and and a half of leave in spite rather than recieve three bonus checks for the month of august and september.
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Aug 27, 2014 12:12
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Mister Nobody posted:On the one hand it is his time to use as he pleases and he should have a choice whether to get paid out or take paid leave. I guess I forgot to make it a point that no one at the company is trying to force him to take a pay out, it's in his head. If you want use it all in Sept you can. But 29 out of the 30 of us decided it's financially better to not take leave in the next month and earn as much as we can.
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Aug 27, 2014 12:46
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Jeffrey posted:Yeah, this, I would probably try to negotiate with the acquiring company before signing on, not sure if you have already. Well the offer made has to due with the fact that they don't accrue they preload on your job anniversary. So those who just had their anniversary are smoked. They are allowing flex hours and LWOP if they need it. Their health benefits are just about the same, and they match an additional 1% on 401K. So in all that's not too bad. Nothing changes for me though. I didn't get a short straw.
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Aug 27, 2014 18:50
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antiga posted:That is a heartbreaking read but honestly post-Enron I don't understand how a person goes all in on one stock. Greed is all I can come up with. That greed will probably drive some of those idiots to throw what they have left in a stock like LAKE. Because Alex Jones says Ebola is gonna kill us all. Thanks Obama!
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Oct 9, 2014 17:10
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melon cat posted:Ugh... Ain't that the truth. Whenever I cautioned less-savvy clients about the potential risks of trading ont he stock market (ie. that it's risky) they'd always smirk at me and say, "Well, high risk means high reward!" I had several co-workers try to say how much of great opportunity Ebola is. That dropping money into LAKE a small hazmat suit maker will make you rich. It was an emotional MOMO stock that shot up from a couple bucks to $30 in a matter of days. Of course I told them to stop being stupid and it will fall back to earth before you know it. It's trading at $14 dollars today. I guess I'm half upset they didn't do it. Would have made a great post.
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Oct 21, 2014 15:49
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Jumpingmanjim posted:There was this guy that invented a game where you hit balls with your hands and it's played on a table. Can't remember what it was called but he poured a lot of money into it. loving BulletBall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOOw2yWMSfk
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Dec 23, 2015 13:34
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Inverse Icarus posted:Cheap hamburgers! nom nom nom! My in-laws did the same thing with my nephew. Except they did it thrice. They got him a power wheel motorcycle when he was 1, a power wheel truck when he was 2, and this Christmas they gave him a power wheel tractor. He still hasn't figured out how to use the first one.
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Dec 28, 2015 20:42
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BadSamaritan posted:The medical technology one is pretty funny to me, because if she had finished the degree there are a ton of ~$45k+ entry level jobs for the field with a lot of overtime generally available. It's not a half bad field for having to pay back student loans- if you finish college. I have a feeling they fall in the category of people that choose a major based on "That pays a lot." versus "I have an interest in that field and wouldn't you know it pays a lot too." Then realize too late that they aren't able to hack it, or just aren't driven to finish the program. Looks like at least one did it out of passion for social work. Not smart enough though to realize Public Sector Mental Health pays dog poo poo. And unless you have a Phd in the private sector you're probably going to be relegated to cleaning up poo poo from persons with disabilities. Everyone wants to complain that mental health community inadequacies may be a leading cause to missing opportunities to prevent mass shootings. But no one wants to pony up and prop up the system to help. Muh Taxes! DEMAG fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jun 30, 2016 |
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Jun 30, 2016 18:26
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Sepherothic posted:http://mcmansionhell.tumblr.com/ It's an old site http://ryanhomesnightmare.com/ryan_emails.html but it does Ryan Homes and NVR the justice it deserves. My realtor when I bought a home asked what we were looking for. He pinpointed some neighborhoods including two Ryan neighborhoods. I said hell no not interested, he insisted we at least take a look. He then left me with one of their sales managers which was a very minimal conversation. The sales manager could tell that I wasn't buying his bullshit. At the end of the tour I reamed out our realtor so bad he called later to apologize. I then sent him the site. We ended up like I wanted, buying a custom home from a local prominent home builder. 11 years old and not a single issue (like a home should be). Also, I bought a home gently caress me right?
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Aug 16, 2016 13:13
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the littlest prince posted:Holy poo poo. Dr. Dude and Terminator 2 Pinball is definitely BMW. Should have invested in a good game like Pinbot, The Machine, or Black Knight.
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Aug 19, 2016 18:46
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Dr. Chaco posted:Santa Barbara: https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/search/apa Go Gauchos, Ole!
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Sep 5, 2016 18:15
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Sirotan posted:And now he's back home. I've spent over 3000 on medical care for my Dachshund. Because that's Dachshund things (leg issues and epilepsy). I knew the risks when I got her. I'm also not a poor scrublord and had no ill feelings about spending the money to take care of her. Youth Decay posted:http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?499858-Paying-Board-in-Adavance-Good-or-Bad My god, the only way this could be better is if the PhD was at a for profit college. DEMAG fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Sep 13, 2016 |
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Sep 13, 2016 13:48
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Spending money on medical care for your pets is only BWM if you can't afford it. And if you can't afford it, you shouldn't have pets. I spent close to $1k on a guinea pig surgery and aftercare once, and I'd do it again if I had to.
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Moneyball posted:I'm inbred. If I need my appendix out or something, should I get it done, or have them put me to sleep? Please advise. I guess I have to put you down. Sorry I don't want another humble brag nomination. /r/PersonalFinance - Shady Job posted:
Holy poo poo. This is a two for one. The best BMW pyramid scheme victim and the best GWM pyramid scheme business owner. Either way I bet someone is going to jail. DEMAG fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Sep 14, 2016 |
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Sep 14, 2016 13:35
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Ashcans posted:Also the part about trying to get a personal loan because if he gets an autoloan he has to have full coverage and there is no way he can handle that additional payment. With no apparent awareness as to why you need full coverage on a car you haven't paid for yet. Well, don't be BWD and you'll never have to file a claim or fix your car. Problem solved, buy large son!
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Sep 14, 2016 18:42
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:How did she get it off of the lot So long as you're breathing and willing to buy they will get it off the lot for you.
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Sep 15, 2016 16:46
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pig slut lisa posted:Today I got calls from three different alcoholism treatment/rehab centers, so I don't know what that's all about or who has my personal info now. At least they didn't tell me that I had blacked out and employed their services and now owed them money! In Virginia they play the pity card hardfuckingcore. The Virginia State Troopers Association uses (maybe now used to use) developmentally challenged solicitors to ask for donations. Because you know, who would tell a downie to gently caress off when calling for donations?
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Sep 23, 2016 13:20
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legendof posted:It came from reddit: someone spent 8k on clash of clans and now can't afford their car payments. You can't get a diamond e-penis without spending a little. Gotta catch 'em all y'all.
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Sep 26, 2016 13:14
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